Appearances
by Lucinda
Summary: AU post season 4. Willow and her boyfriend are on their way to a Halloween party. Resp to Wic's October Challenge.


author: Lucinda  
  
pairing: Willow/Doyle  
  
rating: pg13  
  
distribution: WLS, Wic, Bite Me, NHA, Paula - anyone else ask first.  
  
disclaimer: I hold no legal rights to any characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series.  
  
note: AU past mid season 4 BtVS so Oz has left the building, Tara is just a friend. AU for AtS - Hero did not happen. Doyle is NOT dead. Takes place during an AU second year for Angel Investigations.  
  
Response to Wic's October Challenge - Willow pairing (of the author's choice)  
  
include one of this: Alfred Hitchcock movie / an antique clock / an Pumpkin / an dark alley  
  
you should use two of this: remote control / hairbrush / too tight Costume / an stolen or disappeared bowl of candy  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Remind me again why we're here?" Willow whispered to her boyfriend, her hand looped over his arm.  
  
"Well, once upon a time, my parents had sex. A few years after that, your parents had sex. As the years passed..." He made an exaggerated flinch as she swatted his shoulder, chucking a bit at Willow's annoyed expression. "Ah, not that why, hmm? Well, as I recall, it was your idea to make Kate feel like she was part of the group, considering."  
  
"She got kicked out of the police for helping us deal with that swarm of crawly things. So Angel gave her a job working with us, and she's not that bad. Cordelia was worse in high school. Going to Kate's Halloween party is not that big of a sacrifice." Willow sighed, twitching her long black robes out of the way. "Although I'm still pretty sure that this is supposed to be come as you aren't night, why am I here in long black robes and a pointy black hat?"  
  
"Because you, my sweet, are not here as Willow, you're here as Ginny Weasley, on the arm of the dashing Harry Potter, hero of Britain." He smirked just a bit, gesturing at the pair of them. Both dressed in long robes, a pair of dark glasses perched awkwardly on his nose, a mark shaped like a lightning bolt carefully applied to his forehead with makeup.  
  
"I just wish there really were schools for magic - it would have helped so much." Shaking her head, Willow held up the carefully polished wand that they'd made for her costume. In reality, it was just a carefully smoothed bit of maple with a bronze handle, but it had the right look for a 'magic wand' in the fashion of the Harry Potter novels. "Maple, twelve inches, no core because it's not real... Lumos." A soft silver glow radiated from the tip, causing Willow to giggle a bit.  
  
"Ahhh-ahhh, sweet, what did Sunnydale teach about that word?" Doyle grinned at her. "Either nothing happens - if we could be so lucky! Or utter disaster follows."  
  
"Halloween party at Kate's, where we get to watch her flirt with Angel, and Cordelia and Wesley with round two of their... whatever." Willow shuddered. It wasn't that she thought Angel and Kate would be bad for each other, exactly, as the fact that she couldn't forget about that nasty Clause. A clause that Kate probably didn't know about.  
  
"Good point... maybe we can find some rampaging demon, or a vampire infested alley instead..." Doyle shook his head. "He gave her this clock t' other day... had to be close to a century old, gleaming, expensive. All because she kept being late to work."  
  
"Yeah, Wesley's smitten with her. It's almost sad, really." Willow sighed, thinking about the way that men just seemed to fall for Cordelia.  
  
"Give that back!" The high pitched shriek sounded almost capable of shattering glass, and came from the left.  
  
Years of dangerous living had left them both conditioned - run towards the distress. A shape clutching something was lurching away from a teary eyed child of perhaps seven. Again, the child shrieked in a loud and miserable voice - 'Give me back my candy!"  
  
Doyle placed himself in the way, and the running figure, which turned out to be a boy of maybe fourteen ran into him, sprawling to the ground. Doyle almost fell with him, but Willow managed to catch him.  
  
"Now, what is going on here?" Willow glared at the boy, thinking that she hadn't been much older when she'd started helping fight demons and vampires.  
  
"It's Halloween... Don't you two know those stupid books aren't real?" The boy glared at them, his expression filled with disdain.  
  
Willow muttered a few things under her breath about idiots thinking with their stomachs, and created a small globe of green fire over her palm as the candy began to toss itself back into the bucket, floating back over to the now staring child.  
  
Doyle looked at the boy. "Don't try to talk to her about not real - it gets her annoyed."  
  
The boy ran off, nearly falling several times in his haste to flea.  
  
"We aren't the bad guys... why is he so afraid of us?" Willow sighed, turning back towards the apartment. "Well... no more delays, time to go to the party."  
  
"Remember, most people don't know." Doyle gripped her hand, trying to soothe her as they walked past some smashed pumpkins.  
  
Arriving at Kate's apartment, they stepped inside, hearing the sounds of something playing on the television and the sounds of almost a dozen people chatting. Cordelia was in this incredibly tight shimmering purple dress that had no visible sleeves or straps and a red wig.  
  
Doyle stopped short, his jaw dropping as he stared at her. " Who... what is she? Can she even breathe in that?"  
  
Willow blinked, her own jaw dropping. "Oh my... I think she's Jessica Rabbit. How is that staying up?"  
  
"She doesn't look like a rabbit... urmm... what's on the television anyhow?" Doyle shook his head, as if trying to remind himself not to stare.  
  
Willow smiled, tugging him towards the couch. "oh, it's the Birds! One of Alfred Hitchcock's..."  
  
"Maybe tonight won't be quite that bad after all..." Doyle grinned, pulling her onto his lap.  
  
Willow snuggled closer, smiling up at him. "Looks better already."  
  
End Appearances. 


End file.
